Murray State University Athletics
Racers Search For Better Play At EIU
1/2/2008 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Murray State
(5-6) (2-2 OVC)
at
Eastern Illinois
(1-1) (0-4 OVC)
Thursday 7:30 p.m.
Lantz Arena
Charleston, Il.
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The Murray State Racers are ready to face the bulk of their Ohio Valley Conference season when they play the first game of the 2008 portion of the schedule at Eastern Illinois in Charleston. Game time at Lantz Arena Thursday is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Racers are 2-2 in the OVC after splitting a pair of games on the Alabama swing with a 79-65 win at Jacksonville State (Dec. 18) and a controversial 65-64 loss (Dec. 20) at Samford in which the Bulldogs were awarded a game winning three-pointer even after the clock never started with .4 left in the game. The Racers are 2-2 in the OVC and stand in fifth place with Morehead State.
The Racers are looking for some momentum after a tough go of it last weekend at the Dr. Pepper Holiday Classic in Chattanooga, Tenn. MSU lost two games and fell behind early in each contest, to host UTC (74-50) and Belmont (84-67) to drop to 5-6 in the 2007-08 season. MSU wants to get back to their better shooting ways after hitting 39 percent (43-of-108) from the field and 16 percent (5-of-30) from three-point range in the UTC event.
The Panthers are 1-11 this season and have started the OVC season 0-4. Their last time out was a close loss (52-48) at Bowling Green (Dec. 29). EIU's last two OVC games were losses at Eastern Kentucky (72-69) on Dec. 17 and at Morehead State (80-75) on Dec. 19.
MSU is starting 2008 with a very busy stretch of games that total four in one week. After the game at Eastern Illinois, the Racers will play at home for the first time since Dec. 8 when they host Tennessee State Saturday. The basketball blitz continues with a Monday road game against Southeast Missouri State. MSU is back at home Thursday Jan. 10. against Austin Peay. The Racers are 4-1 at the Regional Special Events Center this season and 109-22 in their 10th season in the building.
GAME NOTES
RANKING THE FIELD: The Rating Percentage Index (RPI) is one of the formulas used by the NCAA in rate college basketball. There are currently 341 teams in NCAA D-I. The rankings do not count wins or losses against non-D-I teams. As of Jan. 1.
RANK TEAM REC
90 Austin Peay 7-6
115 Western Kentucky 7-4
145 Chattanooga 6-5
147 Mississippi State 8-5
151 Rider 8-5
160 Belmont 7-6
185 Tennessee State 4-7
200 SE Missouri State 7-5
238 Eastern Kentucky 2-9
242 UT-Martin 2-9
275 Murray State 3-7
277 Morehead State 3-7
286 Samford 3-6
290 Arkansas State 4-6
320 Tennessee Tech 2-9
340 Jacksonville State 0-10
341 Eastern Illinois 0-11
OVC REBOUNDING:
The Racers are among five teams in the league who have a positive rebound margin. The Racers are fourth with a margin of +2.2. Southeast Missouri is first at +11.0, while Eastern Illinois is second at +4.5.WHAT MIGHT'VE BEEN:
The Racers are only a few ticks on the clock from being 4-0 in the OVC, but instead are 2-2. MSU lost at home Dec. 5 on a shot with 3.9 seconds left with Eastern Kentucky. Dec. 20, the Racers were the vicitm of that strange finish at Samford in a 65-54 loss.HOLLOWAY AND THE THREE:
Take a look at the all-time three point shooters at Murray State and how Tyler Holloway ranks.MSU CAREER MADE 3-POINT SHOTS
1. Frank Allen 1989-93 251
2. Don Mann 1986-89 204
3. Justin Burdine 1998-02 198
4. Marcus Brown 1993-96 173
Paul King 1987-91 173
6. Chris Shumate 1999-04 170
7. Rick Jones 2002-04 133
8. Antoine Whelchel 2000-04 124
9. William Moore 1994-95 123
10. Tyler Holloway 2005- 114
Aaron Page 1996-00 107
12. Aubrey Reese 1997-00 105
MSU CAREER 3-POINT PERCENTAGE
1. Jeff Martin 1986-89 .449
2. Don Mann 1986-89 .421
3. Cedric Gumm 1990-94 .418
4. Chris Shumate 1999-04 .412
5. De'Teri Mayes 1996-98 .411
6. Terence Brooks 1987-89 .404
7. William Moore 1994-95 .403
8. Paul King 1987-91 .402
9. Rick Jones 2002-04 .393
10. Tyler Holloway 2005- .386
11. Justin Burdine 1998-02 .349
DISPUTED FINISH:
When the Racers played at Samford Dec. 20, little did they know by the end of the night they would be part of one of the most controversial finishes in OVC history. It was a perfect storm of events that led to the final play. With 36 seconds remaining and the Racers in front by four points. they fouled Trey Montgomery who hit his three-pointer and made the free throw for a rare four-point play. After making two clutch free throws with 2.7 seconds left for a two-point MSU lead, Bruce Carter stole the inbounds pass and thought he had dribbled out the clock. Officials put four-tenths of a second on the clock, leading to Travis Peterson's heroics. Peterson caught the inbounds pass and drilled a three for the apparent game winner, only there was one important thing that didn't happen....the clock never started! After a long huddle, the officials counted the shot for a 65-64 Samford win. Some say there will forever be time left because the horn never sounded. Less than 24 hours later, the OVC mandated replay monitors for all league members be installed by Jan. 5th.CAREER NUMBERS:
Tyler Holloway is one his way to becoming the 34th member of the MSU 1,000-Point club. He has 598 points. Assuming he plays at least 19 games yet this season and another 29 when he is a senior in 2008-09, he'll makeit given his scoring history.
Danero Thomas is only 40 games into his MSU career but has already scored 274 points.
Marvin Williams grabbed his 100th career rebound Dec. 20 at Samford.
Bruce Carter needs only 32 points to reach 500 career points at MSU.
FRALIEX REDSHIRTING: MSU freshman Matt Fraliex will sit out this season as a redshirt after coming to the Racers as one of the most prolific high school players in Kentucky prep history. He averaged 26.2 points per game as a junior and 32.3 as a senior and was named Kentucky All-State in last two seasons at Caldwell County. Finished his career at Caldwell County with 2,941 points and set a single season mark with 892 points.ASKA SIGNS WITH MSU: 6-7 Ivan Aska signed in November and will join the Racers for the 2008-09 season as a freshman. Aska is a senior at Boyd Anderson High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He averaged 12 points and 11 rebounds per game last season as a junior.
Here are the top signings at each position in the OVC according to Rivals.com
Point guard: Tyrone Caldwell, APSU
Shooting guard: Zach Bailey, TTU Small forward: Tyler McDaniels, TTU
Power forward: Ivan Aska, MSU Center: None
MILES JOINS MSU: Guard Isaac Miles transferred to Murray State last summer after an outstanding freshman season at Creighton. He will sit out the 2007-08 season under NCAA transfer guidelines and be eligible to play as a sophomore in 2008-09. In his first season at Creighton in 2006-07 he averaged 6.1 points per game along with 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists and was selected as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference's All-Freshman team.
